HST 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Stock Market, Insider Trading, Overproduction
9 Mar 2018
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Document Summary
Reckless speculation in the stock market in 20s sent stock prices soaring beyond their real value. Ppl bought stocks on margin (with as little as 10% down) contributing to the overinflated prices and the crash. Hyper consumption as a hallmark of american society. Soaring stock prices rise on the assumption of continued growth, once that assumption is shaken, the market has nowhere to go but down. Oct. 1929 - bubble bursts and stock prices plummet (37% in one day), us stock market declined a staggering 89% between 1929 and 1932. Economy"s dependence on a few basic industries (auto and overproduction in those industries) Unequal distribution of wealth (top 0. 5% of americans owned 32. 4% of nation"s wealth) 1929 - half of us families lived on edge of or below min subsistence level ( a year per family) Smoot-hawley tariff act (1930) raised tariffs on farm and manufactured goods to protect domestic markets.
